James Hamilton, Jr.

• Not the same as James Hamilton
• Evidence needed to support as the same person as James Alexander Hamilton, Jr.
• Evidence needed to support as father of Franklin Hamilton
• Anna Hamilton is said to have been his widow in 1787

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Biography

From https://wikivividly.com/wiki/Hamilton_family#cite_note-ramsing-8

Alexander Hamilton and his older brother James Hamilton Jr were born out of wedlock on the island of Nevis in the West Indies. His father, James A. Hamilton, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and moved to the West Indies to become a merchant and set up his business on the island of Saint Kitts. The elder James Hamilton was the fourth son of Laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange.

From https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0444 notes:

National Intelligencer, February 17, 1859; autograph fragment, MS Division, New York Public Library.
1. James Hamilton, H’s older brother, was born in 1753. After the death of his mother in 1768, James was apprenticed to a carpenter on the island of St. Croix. Nothing is definitely known of the remainder of his life. Holger Utke Ramsing in his authoritative account of the parentage and boyhood of H states that James Hamilton died in 1786 (“Alexander Hamilton,” Personalhistorisk tidsskrift, 225–70).

From “Alexander Hamilton: The West Indian “Founding Father”. William F. Cissel Historian, Christiansted National Historic Site, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. July, 2004. PDF page 13-14

James Hamilton was apprenticed to Christiansted carpenter Thomas MacNobeny, who resided in Water Gut. James’ life is otherwise a blank slate. He surfaced briefly in 1783 to ask his now-famous brother for financial assistance. Alexander Hamilton’s reply, dated June 22, 1785, reflected the anguish of years of separation. “The situation you describe yourself to be in” he wrote, “gives me much pain.... My affection for you...will not permit me to be inattentive to your welfare, and I hope time will prove to you that I feel all the sentiment of a brother.”95 He never got the chance. James Hamilton died on St. Croix the next year at age 33. He presumably left a widow, “Madame Anna Hamilton,” in Frederiksted. There is no indication that the couple had children.” 96.

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References

• “To Alexander Hamilton from James Hamilton, 31 May 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0436. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 3, 1782–1786, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, p. 612.]
• “From Alexander Hamilton to James Hamilton, 22 June 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0444. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 3, 1782–1786, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, pp. 617–618.] “ Allow me only to give you one caution, which is to avoid if possible getting in debt. Are you married or single? If the latter, it is my wish for many reasons it may be agreeable to you to continue in that state. ... I do not advise your coming to this country at present, for the war has also put things out of order here, and people in your business find a subsistence difficult enough. My object will be, by-and-by, to get you settled on a farm. ... “
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_family cites
• Ramsing, Holger Utke (1939). "Alexander Hamilton". Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift (in Danish). Copenhagen: 225–70.
• Hostetler, Rosalea (ed.). "How the Mennonites Brought the Aristocracy to Harper County: The Hamilton Stories". Prairie Connection. Historicity, Inc http://wepreserve.org/hamilton.html claims: THE HARPER MENNONITE TRAIL Alexander Hamilton had one brother, James Hamilton, whose son was Franklin Hamilton who was the father of Benjamin Hamilton (the first Mennonite in the lineage) who was the father of J.T. Hamilton who was the father of Hannah Hamilton of Harper.)Archived from the original
• “Alexander Hamilton: The West Indian “Founding Father”. William F. Cissel Historian, Christiansted National Historic Site, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. July, 2004. PDF page 13-14
• “Alexander Hamilton” by Chernow, Ron Publication date 2004 Topics Hamilton, Alexander, 1757-1804, Statesmen. “May 1785, Hamilton's brother, James, resurfaced with a letter begging for money. The envelope that... “ Page 208 Archive.Org, GoogleBooks
• https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/44/94/00001/Alexander%20H... (2007) (see footnote 48)
• https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:99TS-KJ8